Cry ‘Havoc!’ and Let Slip the Dogs of War
by J.K. Edgars
Summary: AU. Involving a plethora of Bebop characters on the home front, the political front, and the actual front. The history of the Titan war and its origins: a battle between Mars and Ganymede. Few OC.
1. Introduction

"One may think it easy for me to say now that I lament my involvement in the orchestration of the first Titan war, but in actuality, I began to truly realize my mistake only months into the commencement of our operations on the plant. Of course, in retrospect, the reality of the secrets that were kept, especially outside my sphere of influence are more horrible than most anyone realized at the time. Hydrogen cyanide poisoning, nighttime pole temperatures of 95K, POW scandals. But political stubbornness and party pressure, not sometimes, but always, amount to more than cheap human life."

-Excerpt from Carlos Gonzales' memoir, _White Tiger Initiative: A damning view of the political circumstances surrounding the Titan Wars_.

The Martian population was so evenly and bitterly polarized that not even the most innocuous child pornography act could be agreed upon by parliament, and the vaguely impartial and inoffensive champion girls' Junior Varsity tennis team had to be greeted separately, in adjacent chambers by politicos asunder; first Mr. Prime Minister, next the President. The majority party and its administration were poised for war, and the minority party was poised at the other's throat, and no other allegory could serve as a better analogy for the society these parties represented. Not even the apathetic young were immune from the overwhelming desire to take a side.

Gentle Ganymede, on the other hand, (or clenched fist) was united in burning, ferocious war frenzy, crying bloody murder for fallen martyr and future fallen boys who were willing to sacrifice and be sacrificed for the cause. Even Jaurez wouldn't have dared dissent on that moon, to reference archaic history.

Thusly the ever removed historians agree, and astutely so: with backdoor political deals, controlled public information, and pandemic propaganda campaigns, the first Titan war was an absolute inevitability.


	2. Sodom and Gomorrah

The vast majority of Mars was a wonderful place to take up home: Its large population boasted a sprawling, middle class that idled pleasantly (and to a degree, sycophantically) in its place below an opulent aristocracy of businessmen, mafia men and politicians. The lower classes were not epidemically large, but existent nonetheless however largely ignored. A typical democracy, the planet employed New Deal reform-style social systems with a decent dose of neoliberal economic policy and a mildly corrupt police force (Nota bene: under domestic jurisdiction- renowned for its insolence to ISSP.) But perhaps the most distinguishing attribute of the planet is its racial smorgasbord: the very nature of the planet's layout breeds diversity. Mars hasn't brandished an atmosphere for millions of years, thus forcing humanity to isolate cities in infinitesimal domes of Plexiglas and metal. It would be a misstatement to say that there was little exchange between the cities- on the contrary, the cities were completely interdependent and administrated by a single government. What makes for a singular society, however, was the undeniable (though, unconscious) self-partition of ethnicities. Tharsis has its Chinese (thus divided into Mandarin, Singaporean and Cantonese pockets) quarter and its German quarter. Chryse is overwhelmingly Arab and north-African, (though predominantly French Moroccan) Elysium Mons is almost completely Scandinavian and Argyre is credited with having the largest Franco-Slavic population in the galaxy. (The two ethnicities have intermarried and blurred the line between the races and languages of their terra firma forefathers. Unlike Callisto, a small Jovian moon, on the other hand has is own isolated Russian populace.) That is, to use old-world terms. Various parties had varying constituents among the races/cities, creating the polarized political society that characterized that planet in the 60s.

And like one of the greatest old-world democracies, the Martian democracy was limited to two massive parties: the Democratic Republicans and the Constitutional Democrats; the former a conservative party, the latter considerably more liberal. Although there were few substantive differences in policy between the two, ideology and rhetoric could not have been farther apart.

During a famed political debate on the floor of parliament in 2033, Jacques Ying referred to his party as "The great red dragons sent by the people to vanquish the deceitful and cowardly alley cats of the Democratic Republicans." (The topic of that impassioned speech, interestingly, was over the simple parliamentary procedural demand for a quorum. The speech occurred at a time of economic recession and particular partisan bitterness.) The Democratic Republicans, at that time a slim minority, was quick to counter that they were not alley cats, but "white tigers whose duty it is to protect the purity of the democratic process." Thus the terms were coined and employed throughout the ensuing decades: Liberal Red Dragons and conservative White Tigers. Though these names are seldom used by the parties themselves, the appellations have become a staple of modern society.

Ganymede also, was an affluent planet of incredible military and economic means and it too possessed a large population. However, in the advent of the massive terrestrial migration to the outer solar system after the Gateway Explosion, Ganymede was almost solely populated by those of northern and western European and North American descent (however very few of Mexican decent made it to Ganymede, instead settling the "Tijuana" Asteroid.) The population, contrary to its European forefathers, became rapidly homogeneous in both culture and language (the official languages being firstly English with mandatory French in the broadly comprehensive Ganymese school system.) The planet is widely considered to be democratic, although only one party exists. Little or no objections are raised by the populace on this point, because the vast majority of the population see eye-to-eye on most issues. Whatever differences exist in political opinion can be expressed at the polls by voting for the intra-party candidate who most sufficiently conveys one's opinion. Though criticized for this by Mars and other multiple party planets, the Ganymese legislature, as a result, is highly efficient as well as highly representative of its population. Thusly, when it came time for war, Ganymede was so thoroughly united, there was little contention, outside or in, for its seriousness on the Titan matter.


End file.
